The Mask
by Runner043
Summary: The Task Force takes a divide-and-conquer approach to a case, but comes together again when Kono goes missing after serving an arrest warrant. Who took her and will they find her in time?
1. Chapter 1

"The Mask"

This is another CSI:NY/Flangell re-write of a story by the same title. As always, I am using as much of the original story as I can. You will notice that I use Sargent Lukela, Max, Charlie, and HPD members a lot in these re-writes, that's to balance out the larger CSI:NY cast.

My Characters: Detective Chad Harrison, Nick Waldman, Brandon Pauley, Guy Nichols, Adam Fuller, and Pete Zimmerman.

Due to the relationship between Flack & Angell, I may insert an established relationship between Kono and Charlie Fong. We'll see how it goes.

This story kicks off with the Five-0 Task Force taking a divide-and-conquer approach on a case as they work with Detectives and Officers of HPD.

**"The Mask" (Five-0 style)**

HONOLULU, 6:45am...

Officer Kono Kalakaua and Detective Chad Harrison, accompanied by two HPD officers, were about to execute a search warrant. They had a lead on their perp and needed to grab him while he was still sleeping, since he'd probably been up partying all night. Serving an arrest warrant at 6:45 in the morning was not fun, especially when compared to her original plans of surfing with Charlie this morning, but at least they would have the element of surprise and it looked like they were going to get back to the precinct before it started raining.

JUST 20 MINUTES LATER...

"You go ahead and respond to the call, guys. Harrison and I will take him in." Kono said to the two officers who had accompanied them, as a call came over their radio.

The officers radioed in their 10-20 as Kono and Harrison continued escorting the squirming perp between them.

"Ya gotta believe me, man. I didn't do it." Pete Zimmerman said in protest as they put him in the back of their car.

Harrison was in the back seat with the perp and Kono had just gotten in the driver's seat, when suddenly a bullet came through the center of the front windshield of their car. Kono went straight for her gun as she turned around to see Detective Harrison was hit in the chest. She was reaching for the radio to call for backup when two men opened the two front doors of the car. With one on each side of her, she could only point her gun at one of them. Since the one at her driver's side door was already grabbing her, she fired and grazed the one that had come at her from the passenger side door. It was only 6am, so the streets were still fairly quiet, but the sun was now up and she could see they were both dressed in all black; pants, long sleeved shirts, gloves, even ski masks. There was nothing to identify them.

"Drop it! Drop it and get out!" The one at her driver's side door ordered as he held a knife to her throat while dragging her out of the car after she dropped her gun down at her feet. If her gun could not be in the safety of it's holster, at least she wanted it as far away from them as possible.

Kono was mad, really mad, and the new moves she'd been working on at the gym was about to come in handy as the next several minutes looked like a two-against-one kickboxing match. The two men were more interested in just getting away, that is until she pulled off one of their ski masks. That's when she looked up and saw a third masked man standing above her pointing a gun at her. Her own gun.

TWO MINUTES LATER...

"9-1-1. What is your emergency?" The operator asked.

"We need help here! These men, they just shot him, he's still in the car. We can't tell if he's alive. And the lady, they just... they just took her!" The citizen rambled on.

"Slow down, ma'am. I need you to slow down and tell me where you are." The operator instructed.

"East 35th & Hillman. Hurry!"

7:42am - AT THE SCENE...

Chin ran his hands through his hair in frustration as the ambulance pulled away with Harrison. He saw Steve and Dany ducking under the crime scene tape and quickly walked over. "They took her. They took Kono." He blurted out as the two men approached him.

"What have we got for leads?" Steve asked in a calm but serious tone, wanting to give Chin something to focus on.

"Witnesses say she fought with two of the men, then a third one pointed a gun at her, cuffed her, and forced her into a white van with dark windows. That's it. That's all we've got. No license plates. Nothing. And now it's raining hard, washing away evidence." Chin said in frustration.

"There's always something, Chin. Always. We just have to find it. But you're right about the rain, so let's hurry." Danny assured him.

**CHAPTER 2 UP SOON.**


	2. Chapter 2

"...the lady, they just... they just took her!"

"There's always something, Chin. Always. We just have to find it."

**"THE MASK" Chapter 2**

9:19am - AT HQ...

"Commander McGarrett, you're gonna wanna see this!" Charlie said from the doorway of Steve's office where the Five-0s were having a brainstorming session. They were trying to come up with ideas on where to start looking for Kono, who could have taken her, and why.

"What is it, Charlie?" Steve asked as they all stood.

"I just got the footage from the street cam." Charlie replied, leading them all out to the Smart Table for viewing.

"This camera angle is from across the street. It's the only view we've got, plus the sun was just coming up so the lighting is not the best, and the rain doesn't help the clarity." Charlie said beginning his step-by-step narration as they all stood in front of the large monitors to watch. "There's a flash from a gun in the far right of the screen, that's the bullet that went through the front windshield and hit Harrison,... there are the two men approaching,... then there is another flash of gunfire inside the car, presumably from Kono,... the way the guy jumped back makes me think she hit him, then they drag her out onto the sidewalk with what looks to be a knife,... then she kicks some ass for a while until a third man approaches who goes into the car via the drivers-side door and comes out with what appears to be Kono's gun,... then he points it at her at which point all the fighting stops,... they cuff her with her own cuffs,... then the three leave in a van taking her and the perp Paul Zimmerman with them." Charlie looks up from the Smart Table to face his colleagues and can tell by the looks on their faces that they'd hoped he would have more. "That's it, that's all there is." He adds.

"Back that footage up to the fighting part." Danny requests and Charlie efficiently complies. "There, right there, Steve. It looks like Kono pulls off the guy's mask."

"You're right, Danny." Steve agrees. "She did."

"That's why they took her. Because she could ID one of them." Chin states, stress still evident in his voice.

"Probably." Danny agrees, "We need to analyze that mask right away." He addes, turning to Charlie.

"But, we didn't recover a mask at the scene." Charlie said, looking down at the evidence log.

"No one found a mask?" Steve asks, looking around to everyone. They all shake their heads.

Steve turns back to Charlie, "I want you to let this footage keep rolling and see if you can spot who picked up that mask."

"Will do." Charlie replied, turning back to the screen.

MEANWHILE...

Kono sat on the floor in the living room of a run down old brownstone. She was cuffed to the radiator and listening to the men that abducted her argue with each other.

"Why didn't ya just shoot her there?" Brandon Pauley asked. Pauley was a tall, skinny kid with brown hair that looked looked like it hadn't been washed in a week. "Now what are we gonna tell Nick?"

"You wanna yell that a little louder, Brandon? In case the neighbors on the other side of that wall didn't hear ya." Guy Nichols said back, pointing to the wall that separated their living room from the one next door. Nichols was an older, heavier guy with fair skin and strawberry blonde hair. "It's bad enough the cops almost got Zimmerman, you want 'em to get us all?"

"So, what are we gonna tell Nick?" Pauley asked again.

"I don't know, man." Nichols whined. "This is all your fault. You figure something out."

"My fault?" Pauley asked. "How is this my fault?"

"Because you're the one who got his mask pulled off by a chick who was kickin' your ass." Adam Fuller spoke up finally as he wrapped an Ace bandage around the bullet graze on his upper arm. Fuller was a young black guy in his twenties, who obviously had a thing for tattoos and body piercing.

Keys could be heard in the front door and a man much older than the other three, probably in his fifties, walked in. He stopped in the middle of the living room and looked at the other three, then at Kono.

"Nick, I can explain." Was as far as Pauley got before he was backhanded.

"Then you'd better get started, 'cause right now I see the customer I sent ya for and a cop I didn't." Nick Waldman instructed. Waldman was a short stocky man with salt and pepper hair that was beginning to recede. He wore glasses and smelled strongly of cigar smoke.

"She pulled off my mask, Nick. We couldn't just let her go after that." Pauley half explained and half pleaded.

"She's a feisty one." Fuller commented, watching Waldman walk over and crouch down in front of Kono. "We were just gonna stuff her in the trunk and go, but she had other ideas."

"Well, I don't like my women feisty, so you'd better keep your mouth shut while I figure out what to do with ya." Waldman ordered Kono in a threatening tone.

**Chapter 3 up soon**


	3. Chapter 3

"let this footage keep rolling and see if you can spot who picked up that mask."

"Well, I don't like my women feisty, so you'd better keep your mouth shut while I figure out what to do with ya."

**"The Mask" Chapter 3**

10:41am - STILL AT HQ...

"It was a public sidewalk, Steve. There's no way of telling what we brought back from the scene is from Kono's abduction and what is just everyday sidewalk debris." Charlie said. "But I did find something on the footage." Back at the Smart Table, "There," He said, freezing the frame and flipping the image onto the monitor. "Right there is when someone picked up the mask, after the 9-1-1 call, but before HPD arrived."

"Zoom in on that guy." Danny instructed, Charlie complied, zooming in on the face of a tall young guy. "Get that image to Chin. I wanna know who that guy is and why he picked up that mask."

ONLY 20 MINUTES LATER...

"I got it, Steve." Chin called out, almost jogging into the room. "Adam Fuller is the guy who picked up the mask. He's in CODIS for a string of small time stuff. You think he's involved in taking Kono?"

"He's wearing all black, so probably one of the perps trying to get the mask back. No other reason to want it." Steve said.

"You got an address?" Danny asked, seeing Chin nod. "Let's go then."

AFTER DRIVING ACROSS TOWN IN LUNCH HOUR TRAFFIC...

"He's not here, officer. He's at work right now." Adam Fuller's grandmother informed Chin.

"It's important that we contact him right away, Mrs. Fuller. Can you tell us where he works or anything else that would help us find him?" Chin asked the elderly lady.

"No." She paused, thinking carefully. "I don't know where he works."

"How do you contact him, ma'am?" Danny asked.

"I don't have to. He calls me." She replied with a smile at the thought of her only grandson calling her.

A few minutes later Chin had triangulated Fuller's cell phone and they were on their way.

MEANWHILE...

"Get her up." Waldman ordered Nichols. "We're taking her to the other house."

Nichols walked over to Kono and started crouching down in front of her, when suddenly her boot came up and busted him in the mouth, knocking him backwards. Nichols stood, wiping the blood running down his chin, leaned over her and retaliated with a punch to the jaw before walking away. Kono had gotten what she wanted.

APPROACHING 1:55pm - NEAR WAHIAWA...

"Five-0!" Chin yelled before busting down the door with his gun drawn, followed by Steve, Danny, and several officers.

"She's not here." Chin finally said, approaching Steve in the living room after the entire house had been searched and secured. "Although I did find the ski mask hidden under a bed upstairs." He added, holding up a clear evidence bag with the mask in it.

"Commander McGarrett, I've got blood over here." Charlie called over to Steve, who walked over. "The luminal spray shows someone tried to clean blood off the floor, but they missed some here on the drapes. Then I turned it around and found this..." He added, turning the hem of the drapes around to show a bloody handprint on the white lining.

"Get it to the lab, asap." Steve instructed, then turned to see Chin behind him, expressionless and looking at the bloody handprint. "We'll find her, Chin. We'll find her." He added, patting the man on the shoulder as he walked past.

"Don't worry, Chin. There's not that much here." Danny said, indicating the quantity of blood.

2:33pm - BACK AT FIVE-0 HQ...

"Some of the blood belongs to Kono, the rest belongs to a Guy Nichols." Charlie informed Steve.

"Chin is getting an address on him and will be here in a minute." Danny added as he entered.

"Not that long, Danny." Chin said from behind him and joining the others, with a computer printout in his hand. "I got an address."

"How'd it work out with the Mask?" Danny asked Charlie.

"The rain washed away any epithelials, but when Kono pulled it off, she pulled hair out, too." Charlie said.

"Roots and all?" Steve asked hopefully.

Charlie nodded in confirmation, "I'm just waiting on DNA results."

MEANWHILE...

Kono sat, again cuffed to a radiator in a different living room. She was pulling out her hair, literally. At least it gave her something to do to distract her from the scene playing out in front of her.

"Ah, jeez, turn that garbage off, Brandon." Fuller said. "There's a bedroom down the hall, man. At least do that in private." He added with a tone of disgust.

"I can't. Nick said I have to keep an eye on her, so I gotta stay in here." Pauley whined back. "Besides, this tv is bigger." He added, turning up the volume.

"Where is Nick, anyway?" Nichols asked, taking a seat on the other end of the couch from Pauley.

"Scouting a new location. Cops found the brownstone a little while ago. He doesn't trust they won't find this place, either." Fuller said.

**HAWAII FIVE-0**

So, will Waldman and the guys move Kono again before Five-0 can find her?  
And what clue is Kono leaving behind this time?

It's doubtful that radiators are very common in Hawaii, but the original version was set in New York where they are common. So I kept them. Just go with it.


	4. Chapter 4

"Commander McGarrett, I've got blood over here."

"Cops found the brownstone a little while ago. He doesn't trust they won't find this place, either."

**"The Mask" chapter 4**

4:29pm - WAIPAHU...

"Five-0!" Chin yelled before busting down his second door of the day with his gun drawn, followed by Steve, Danny, and several HPD officers who had joined them.

"She's not here, either." Danny said several minutes later, approaching Steve in the living room after the entire house had been searched and secured.

"Steve." Charlie quietly said, nodding for him to come over, which he did. "I've got semen stains all over this couch." He said quietly, hoping Chin wouldn't hear.

"Get that back to the lab quietly." Steve instructed. He didn't want to make any implications where none should be made.

"Hey, Steve." Chin said, approaching him & Charlie, then paused. "What did you find, Charlie?" He asked, seeing him bagging a couch cushion.

Charlie looked at Steve, not wanting to answer. "We're just checking on something." Steve answered instead.

Chin wasn't buying it. "What?" He asked directly.

Steve knew he wasn't getting out of this one. "Charlie found semen stains on the couch."

"They could be very old." Charlie chimed in, hoping to alleviate his concerns, which, as they could tell by his expression, was clearly not working.

"Chin,... look. They've got a stack of porn videos here." Steve started to say, hoping an alternative cause for the semen would help some.

"Danny's found hair over there." Chin stated, blurting out his original purpose for approaching, before walking away.

"It's long and dark. Roots attached. Probably Kono's." Danny said, holding up a strand, as Chin returned and Steve approached.

"Back at the radiator, just like the blood at the other place. That's probably where they're keeping her secured. She's leaving us a trail to follow." Steve observed as he pulled out his ringing phone. "McGarrett." He said by way of answering.

"Commander McGarrett, it's Duke. Pete Zimmerman has just been re-arrested." Sargent Duke Lukela said.

"Zimmerman? Wasn't that the perp Kono and Harrison arrested this morning?" Steve asked.

"Mhmm. And he's singin' like a bird. Apparently he doesn't want anything to do with the abduction and killing of police officers."

Steve sucked a deep breath at the plural term, "Harrison?"

"Yeah." Lukela confirmed in a somber tone, "Harrison died about 30 minutes ago."

"Damn." Steve said through gritted teeth. Another deep breath, "Alright, anything else?" He asked, trying to return his focus. There was nothing he could do to help Harrison, but he could still help Kono.

"The results are back from Charlie's DNA test on the hair. His name is Brandon Pauley. Here's the address..."

5:22pm - PEARL CITY...

"Where are you, Cuz? Where are you?" Chin mumbled to himself while running his hands through his hair. He was growing very frustrated at not being able to find her. "They moved her again, didn't they?" He asked Danny, who didn't answer.

"There's nothin' here this time. No evidence of Kono ever being here at all. Not here in the living room. Not at the radiator." Danny stated as he approached. "I don't think they've ever been here."

Chin sighed heavily. He agreed with Danny's assessment.

"Maybe not, but our semen donor has been here." Steve said, walking up with an evidence bag. "There's multiple donations on the bed upstairs, where there's a tv and another stack of porn videos."

"So, our horny donor is more into jackin' off than rape." Danny said with blunt terminology. "That's good." He emphasized for Chin's benefit.

"Yeah." Steve agreed as he pulled out his ringing phone. "McGarrett."

"Commander McGarrett, it's Charlie. The semen from the couch cushion is a DNA match to the hair found in the ski mask, and I've found another possible address for Brandon Pauley. Seems his family owned a retail business, till they went bankrupt six months ago." Charlie explained.

"Good. What's the address?" Steve requested.

"That won't do you any good. New owners are already in there. However, they do still own the storage warehouse." Charlie clarified.

**HAWAII FIVE-0**

The guys have checked out several locations so far.  
Will they have any luck at the warehouse?  
Will Kono leave more clues?  
Will the bad guys mover her again?


	5. Chapter 5

"Where are you, Cuz? Where are you?"

"There's nothin' here this time. No evidence of Kono ever being here at all."

MEANWHILE...

Kono's head hurt. The three guys had been less than gentle with her as they'd moved her from location to location while Waldman was out deciding what to do with her. She was sure he was simply cutting a deal for someone to kill her and dispose of her body. He was a bookie, not a murderer, she'd figured that much out. He didn't like to get his hands dirty, which was why these three dim-whits were still around, or he'd have had them killed already. At least for now they were leaving her alone. Her hands were again cuffed behind her, this time to a steel pipe in the upstairs storage loft while they were all hanging out downstairs. It was late in the day now and getting dark. If they hadn't arrested Zimmerman so early, at least she would have had more than just a protein bar to sustain her the rest of the day, not to mention the breakfast she and Charlie were to have had after surfing. But that was not the case and she was hungry and thirsty.

"Oh shit, you hear that?" Fuller asked, looking up from his poker cards.

"Yeah." Nichols paused, listening to determine the source, "Sirens."

"Leave the lady. Let's get outta here!" Pauley yelled.

All three guys bolted for the exits, each running in a different direction.

"There goes Fuller." Chin called out, recognizing him from his photo and giving chase.

Steve saw another perp exiting the side of the building as he pulled up and chased after him.

Danny saw one headed his direction from the back, then seeing Danny, he turned and ran back to the back of the building. Danny gave chase.

Lukela and three HPD officers went into the warehouse; two upstairs, two downstairs. They all moved cautiously with guns drawn until the building was secured.

"Don't touch me!" Kono yelled as she drew up her feet, drawing back when Lukela rushing over to her. She could hear voices via one of their radios. "Get Charlie up here!"

"They've fond her!" Danny called out as he put Pauley in the back of a squad car and Chin approached with Fuller also in cuffs.

"Where is she?" Chin asked, urgency obvious in his voice.

"Somewhere upstairs. But she won't let anyone but Charlie near her." Danny informed him. "You go. We got this." He waved another officer over to take Fuller from Chin so he could go be with his cousin.

"Kono,... are you alright?" Charlie asked rushing over to her, still a bit breathless from running the stairs and concern over why she wouldn't let anyone near her.

"I scratched him." Kono stated, setting up on her heels and leaning forward to show her hands while turning around as best as she could, "I've got his skin under my nails. I didn't want anyone touching me until you've collected it."

Charlie couldn't help a small smile, "Good job." He said, opening his kit to collect the samples and also wipe Kono's hands for blood. "That was good work with the bloody hand print."

"I took a punch to the jaw to leave that." If Kono hadn't had her head tipped down with her hair fallen around her face, she would have seen the look on his face as she said those words. It was the same expression as the officer who was listening.

Charlie had no response for the bravery that must have taken. He just gave a slight nod, although she couldn't see it. "Almost done." He said as Chin ran into view.

"Kono!" Was his only word.

"Don't touch her yet." Charlie said, holding up a hand as if to stop him. "She's got evidence on her I need to collect first."

Kono craned her head up enough to make eye contact with her cousin and hoped her hair covered enough of her face to keep him from seeing the bruises.

Several minutes later Kono walked down the stairs with Chin and Charlie, an empty water bottle in hand. "We got three of 'em." Steve told her as they reached the bottom steps.

"There's a fourth." She informed him, immediately back in cop-mode. "A Nick Waldman. He's the leader behind all this and the bookie Zimmerman owed money to. He was ticked that we were arresting Zimmerman this morning, because he can't get money out if him if he's behind bars. I was only taken because I got in the way."

"The mask." Danny stated simply.

Kono nodded. "I got hair with it, didn't I."

Steve nodded, "You were good. Nice work with the hand print and the hair, too." He complimented her, then paused, "Listen, Kono, we found semen at two locations." He noticed Chin give a slight flinch at his words.

"Is that why the bus is here?" Kono asked, looking out through the large bay door that had just been opened, revealing an ambulance parked outside in the dark. She saw his slight nod. "I'm okay, Steve." She assured him, "They were only into doin' themselves and each other." She saw Steve give a nod of acknowledgment and heard her cousin give a sigh of relief. She shuddered at remembering what she had had to hear. "If they wanted to do that, couldn't they at least have gone to a bedroom or something?" She said, making a face. "I mean, seriously, I could close my eyes, but with being cuffed, I couldn't exactly cover my ears." Another shudder.

"Any idea where Waldman's at? Anything you overheard?" Danny asked, partly to change the subject.

Kono shook her head, "No. But I can tell you that he smokes cigars. Reeks of 'em real bad. But not the kind you buy just anywhere. They were real expensive specialty cigars. Had a very distinct smell to 'em, like you'd get in a high end cigar shop."

"We'll check into that, see if we can track him down that way. Good job. But right now, Kono, you are going to go get in that ambulance." Steve insisted. She gave him a look. "You have a lot of bruises and those cuffs have cut into your wrists pretty good."

"And that's probably a knot on you head you keep rubbing." Chin said. "Let's go." He added, not giving her a chance to dismiss the option.

"How's Harrison?" Kono asked as they walked out of the warehouse.

HAWAII FIVE-0

One more chapter to go, and it will have an alternate ending for all you Kono/Charlie fans.


	6. Chapter 6

**"The Mask" chapter 6, with Chano tag**

8:51pm - AT KONO'S HOME...

The long hot shower had felt good as Kono attempted to wash away the ugliness of the day. Her head still hurt a little, the rope burns on her wrists were bright red, and the bruises had darkened to look like small shadows across parts of her face. She now stood in her most comfortable loung atire in front of her nearly empty refrigerator. She sighed and closed the door before resorting to a microwaveable meal from the freezer, then heard a knock at the door.

"Hey, Cuz." Kono greeted in surprise.

Chin entered wordlessly as he passed her and put a sack on her kitchen counter. "Seriously, Kono?" He asked, holding up the box of frozen vegetables and preservatives, "You call this dinner? Those creeps didn't so much as give you a drink of water all day, and this is all you were going to do for dinner?"

"My grocery shopping plans for today got changed." She said with a shrug of her shoulders.

He placed the frozen meal back in the freezer and began unpacking Chinese food containers from the sack. "I figured as much, since it's Thursday." He looked up to see her curious expression, "You always grocery shop on Thursdays." He explained and noticed the look on her face change as if she herself hadn't realize she always shopped on the same day of the week. "You're very predictable, ya know."

They had sat down and were about to eat when another knock on the door was heard, which Kono got up to answer.

"We just wanted to inform you that Nick Waldman is in custody." Danny said as he and Steve entered. "Seems that one of the cigar shop owners was glad to give Waldman up. We suspect it's because he also has gambling debts and owes him money."

"Good. I'm glad that's over with. I don't want to think about this anymore." Kono said, "So, uh, what's in the bag, Danny?"

"Oh, this." Danny said, indicating the bag he was carrying. "Well, we figured that since we were stopping by anyway, ya know, with the information about Waldman, that, uh, you might be hungry."

"Come on." Kono drug out with an eye roll as Steve just nodded in agreement with Danny, but wisely kept his mouth shut. She was very well aware of what the guys were all doing,... and it was just fine with her.

A few minutes later Steve and Danny had added the Chinese food they'd brought to the table, and Kono was again sat down to eat, this time with her entire ohana.

She watched from across the table in quiet amusement at Danny's attempts to use the two thin sticks to pick up his food. She'd seen him try during their many trips to Kung's after a case was wrapped-up. It never failed that he'd send a noodle or two flying as the chopsticks he was determined to master would suddenly twisted and flipped in his fingers. She was tempted to just slide a fork across the table in front of him, but he would surely be irritated by the offer. So, she continued eating sweet & sour pork in silence, at least until a piece of mar far chicken flew her direction.

"Oops." Danny mumbled, "Um, sorry 'bout that."

Kono looked up at him with a smirk, down at the piece of chicken that now rested near her plate, then using her chopsticks to pick up the chicken... she stuffed it in her mouth.

"Hey, that was my chicken!" Danny said in mock protest as the others laughed.

"Why do they always give ya so much food when ordering Chinese?" Steve wondered aloud as he and Chin put the leftovers in Kono's refrigerator.

"Because you'll be hungry again in an hour. Everyone knows that." Chin answered. "Well, forty minutes in your case."

AN HOUR LATER...

"Oh, wait." Kono exclaimed, stopping the guys as they were all about to leave. "We forgot our fortune cookies." She added, then retrieved them from the table. "Read your's first." She told her cousin as she handed out the cookies.

"Forgiveness is a good thing." He read out loud, "That's for sure." He agreed as he looked up.

"Make the most of every day." Kono read out loud. "After what happened today,-" She left the rest unspoken, but saw the men all nod in agreement and understanding.

Steve tried to ignore the bruises on her face and read his, "Good luck follows you."

"No. Explosions follow you." Danny countered in a very matter-of-fact tone, as he cracked his cookie open, then read, "Accept grace whenever it is offered." He smiled and looked up, "And with that, I will say 'good night', because I get to pick up my little Monkey first thing tomorrow morning."

As Kono closed the door she thought about how her ohana had searched for her, had rescued her, had even come to her home to make sure she was really okay. She smiled as she locked the door, then headed to bed. She would definitely make the most of every day. Starting tomorrow.

**THE END**

_I took Danny's fortune from: God's mercy is Him not giving you what you deserve. God's grace is Him giving you what you don't deserve._

_For those that like Chano (Charlie & Kono) together, I offer this tag. But I've gotta say that I wish it could have been completed before the last episode with Kono/Adam, because this became hard to write after watching that. So I hope it turned out okay._

Charlie had arrived in time to see Chin pull up, the bag in his hand indicating dinner for he and his cousin.

He wished it was he and and Kono having dinner together tonight. He wanted to take her to that new Thai restaurant neaby. It had been a terrible day for her, but she had to eat, right? Okay, so the truth was probably closer to him being selfish and just wanting to see her. He sighed heavily and pulled the keys from the ignition, deciding to head for the door. Maybe showing up while Chin was there was a good thing. Maybe he should mention the Thai restaurant, ignoring the bag of food already there, pretending not to see it. Maybe they would invite him to join them. Having Chin's approval would mean a lot to Kono. But approval for what? He wasn't sure. Coffee after work had turned into meeting again in the morning for some surfing. Was that dating? He wasn't sure. But if it wasn't, maybe it would lead to that. Yeah, he could work with that idea. As he reached for the door handle, he saw two more vehicles pull up.

_'Great. Just great.'_ Charlie thought to himself as he watched Williams and McGarrett exit their respective vehicles. He had just psyched himself up to knock on her door while Chin was there, but now the whole Task Force? That was just a little more than this slightly nervous lab tech could handle.

He retracted his hand from the door handle and sat back, and waited. Soon it was obvious that this was going to take a while. 'Dessert.' Charlie almost laughed at himself as the word suddenly popped into his head. But then again, dessert wasn't a bad idea. Chin had brought Chinese food. Kono said he always brings Chinese food. A mutual favorite, and he speaks enough of the language to order the good stuff. But how long can it take to eat? They'd be gone soon enough, right? So he would go off and get dessert and come back. He could work with this plan.

So many choices. Too many choices. _'Women must come up with the names of ice cream flavors. Women like choices, lots and lots of them. That's why they own so many shoes. Right?'_ Charlie asked himself. _'Jeez. I'm losing my mind over ice cream.'_ He added as he again sat in his car across from Kono's little house, rubbing his temples, a carton of vanilla ice cream in the seat next to him.

_'Vanilla. Why did he pick vanilla?'_ Charlie scolded himself. Vanilla would say 'boring', but he didn't want her to think of him as boring. He should have selected something different. Rocky road? Uh, no, not when you're trying to build a relationship. Coffee Toffee? No, it was too late for anything with the word coffee in it. Maybe-

Charlie was pulled from his silly thoughts as he heard Williams start his car. _'How had I not even managed to see him exit the house?'_ He wondered, as he watched Williams drive away. Kono's door was still open, so hopefully the other two would soon follow. And they did.

"Did you forget someth-" Kono began to ask as she opened the door. "Oh, hi, Charlie. I thought Chin had returned." She explained.

"I know it's late, but I wanted to make sure you were okay." Charlie explained. "And I was hoping you'd be up for some ice cream." He added, holding up the sack as he saw a smile on her face.

Yeah, dessert, he could work with this plan.

**THE END, again**


End file.
